Dumas and Bernhard did salvage their weekend with their eighth straight LMP2 victory dating back to Mid-Ohio in July of last year. The duo was five seconds clear of David Brabham and Scott Sharp in the Patrón Highcroft Racing entry, the highest finisher among the three Acura ARX-01b cars.
The pairing controlled the P2 contest from the beginning with Bernhard starting first in class and second overall after Dumas' qualifying run. The German pitted just once as well, handing off to Dumas at the 44-minute mark. He led 35 of the final 43 laps.
"To race only two laps at the end, we had no chance," Dumas said. "We lost the victory overall but we won in class so it was a good weekend for everybody. I can tell you in the last hour, I was taking a lot of risks trying to keep up but that is street racing and how it goes. The tyres did a great job holding up. The new compound is very great. Michelin did a great job providing a great new tyre."
The win for Bernhard and Dumas ties an American Le Mans Series record for consecutive victories regardless of class. The two won eight times in P2 a year ago with six overall victories on their way to the class championship. They already are well on their way to a repeat.
"Romain and I have a very good relationship," Bernhard said. "The main key is we have the same idea about racing. We live motorsports and are always thinking racing. We have the same height and weight, it helps during the stops when it comes down to the driver change, we use the same main seat and it saves us a lot of seconds. The car will keep the same settings for the two of us so it makes it easier on the engineers."
The second Penske Porsche of Long and Sascha Maassen finished third in class and fourth overall although both drivers were docked three championship points for the incident with Leitzinger's Porsche. LMP2 cars held the second through seventh positions overall.
